John Katsilometes on how an offhand comment on a national radio show could impact KNPR

Tuesday, July 4, 2006 | 7:24 a.m.

A year and a half ago, during an appearance on National Public Radio's "Whad'Ya Know?", irascible comic book author Harvey Pekar used a familiar profanity for the word "stuff."

Since then, KNPR 88.9-FM has been dealing with a lot of stuff.

The Las Vegas NPR affiliate has been operating without a license for more than a year while the FCC reviews a complaint filed by a listener who heard the Pekar profanity. Though the offensive term was heard in 250 cities during a national radio show, KNPR has been singled out because it is the only station to be the target of a formal listener complaint.

"The way the FCC works is, it won't bring action against you unless someone complains," KNPR President and General Manager Lamar Marchese said Monday afternoon.

During the live program, hosted by Michael Feldman, Pekar offhandedly told him, "I have all this (stuff) at home "

Marchese said the incident happened in January 2005, but the station didn't receive a complaint from the FCC until August. If the FCC rules that KNPR was negligent, the station could face a fine of up to $30,000, but Marchese said that Public Radio International, which produces "Whad'Ya Know?", would be contractually obligated to pay the fine.

Complicating the issue is that KNPR's broadcasting license, up for review every seven years, was to be renewed in June 2005. The FCC has held up the 2005 renewal while it reviews the complaint. KNPR is legally permitted to remain on the air while the FCC makes its decision, and it is conceivable KNPR could lose its license as a result.

"They could take us off the air, that's absolutely, positively the worst thing they could do," Marchese said. "But I don't see it happening - this is, in my mind, pretty tame stuff. It was just a passing reference."

There is no clear timetable for the FCC's ruling. "It could be today, tomorrow, a month or three months from now," Marchese said. "They act whenever they want to."

NoteMart

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